Microsoft is the only company poised to give Apple serious competition in terms of hardware, former Chief Executive Steve Ballmer commented on a Bloomberg TV show Friday morning.

Source:: Apple Insider

Pandora has reached a $90 million settlement with record labels over royalties from pre-1972 recordings, which were under contention because they don’t fall under U.S. federal copyright protections.

Source:: Apple Insider

Investors are eagerly awaiting the results of Apple’s September quarter, due to be reported next Tuesday, in which it’s expected Apple will report record sales of 47.8 million iPhones.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple on Friday confirmed that the Apple Watch will debut in India on Nov. 6, marking the first scheduled launch of the product for that month.

Source:: Apple Insider

On this week’s all-new AppleInsider podcast, Neil, Mikey, and Victor discuss new Apple TV, iOS 9.1, and Watch OS 2.0.1. Neil has tips about quitting apps on iOS, Victor rides an electric skateboard, and we talk about Steam Link and the Steam Controller for Mac.

Source:: Apple Insider

Responding to recent complaints that its iOS app excessively drains iPhone battery life, Facebook on Thursday pushed out a partial fix, explaining the problem was in part caused by a background audio bug.

Source:: Apple Insider

As part of an ongoing study on the consequences of using hands- and eyes-free systems while driving, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety rated Apple’s latest version of Siri voice control as “highly distracting,” behind Google Now and certain OEM infotainment systems.

Source:: Apple Insider

Apple on Thursday released an update to its iMovie video editing app for iOS, bringing 4K support to iPad Air 2 hardware running iOS 9.1 and addressing a number of bugs including an import issue with iCloud Drive.

Source:: Apple Insider

LifeProof on Thursday announced a new version of its ruggedized Fre Power battery case, updated to support the iPhone 6s.

Source:: Apple Insider

Google on Thursday updated the iOS edition of Chrome with support for iOS 9’s multitasking features, while Facebook updated its Web and app interfaces with wider search functions, including the ability to see any public post.

Source:: Apple Insider